Wednesday, May 09, 2007

I didn't post a pic of my L'il Monster previously because he hadn't been quite finished. Here he is in all his glory - didn't quite turn out all cute like everyone elses - I must have been channelling my inner Goth. I think because I painted him black for the base coat and also because his mouth turned quite beaky for some reason. Anyway - I love the way the interference colours show up against the black. I also love the Jo Sonja Opal Dust which gives the sparkle. Here he is in the window of the shop scaring all the kids away.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

I forgot to post pics of the Beading class with Lisa Walton that was on here back in March (how silly am I)? What prompted me to remember was getting in the wonderful book from Nancy Eha which Lisa uses as the basis of some of her designs (and gives full credit too in case you were wondering!

Here are pics of some of the students works in progress.

And here are some more of Lisa's samplers.

Everyone went home feeling very clever and happy to be able to add some more dimensional interest to their handwork whether it was quilting or needlework or combinations thereof. Great class - great teacher.

The L'il Monster is a pattern but Pam also showed me how to do a wrapped armature and use the pattern pieces as cotton lyra skins - here is mine with the wrapped armature and beginning to put the skins over.

This is someone else's monster made with the conventional pattern stuffed around the armature and the stuffed feet

As you can see the creature can be posed in many different ways - creating the character.

Pam demonstrated an open mouth technique which was very interesting. Here you can see the basic form with the cardboard piece inserted to create the mouth. We then had to backstitch around the eyes to adhere the lycra skin to the base - this enabled us to put stuffing around the eye forms to make brow ridges, cheeks and so on.

Once the heads were put on we gessoed the whole body ready for painting. We also used Jo Sonja texture paste to add some dimensional scaly effects.

This is where it got really interesting as individual choices in posing, colour choice and layering reall has an effect on the outcome. I painted mine black.

Ann chose brown and green

Sharolyn decided on a water dragon

Stella decided on purple and green

Lorraine wanted a definitely female monster in purple and pink - don't you love the dainty pose and the long eyelashes?

Well a brilliant time was had by all - three days of fun, creativity and laughter. Pam is a world class teacher and all round great person. We gathered to create a L'il Monster - Pam's newest class doll. Here is a sample of her monster . The great thing about the pattern is it can also be interpreted as a more conventional animal such as a dog or a cat - here's Pam's take on a cat.

Pam also brought some of her dolls to show - here is the Gypsy girl front and back and a close up of her face.

Pam had also made an angel and Christine and The Phantom from Phantom of the Opera (she's only just slightly obsessed as she readily admits!